


Bedfellows

by Kaitie



Category: Selfie (TV)
Genre: Business Trip, Drabble, F/M, Hotels, Prompt Fic, Road Trips, Squabbling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 05:33:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3107939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaitie/pseuds/Kaitie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tension grows when Henry and Eliza find themselves stranded on their way to a conference.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bedfellows

“God, whose stupid idea was this?” Eliza complained, staring out the window at the endless stretch of nothing going past.

“Well it certainly wasn’t mine” Henry answered shortly, irritated but trying to keep his temper in check. They’d been stuck together in the tiny rental car for 6 hours now, traveling to a convention a few states away.

“It’s not even in a real place” Eliza continued. “I’d be all about a trip to Vegas or something, but no. Instead we’re being shipped off to some podunk town in the middle of nowhere to ‘network’ with a bunch of marketing losers.”

“Excuse me, but I’m one of those ‘marketing losers’ you’re describing. And we should both be appreciative of Mr. Saperstein choosing us for this.”

Eliza looked over at Henry in exasperation. “Oh puh-leeze. You don’t even believe that. You just don’t want to agree with me that this sucks.”

“Ok fine! This sucks. Are you happy now?” Henry exclaimed, slamming his hand on the steering wheel. “It’s not like I volunteered for this, but it’s a good opportunity for both of us. We could meet important industry people and you’re showing Mr. Saperstein and the other executives that you’re a team player who is willing to go the extra mile.

Eliza just huffed and rolled her eyes, turning back to the window. Her phone had died an hour ago and Henry refused to pull over so she could get the car charger out of her bag in the trunk. How was anyone expected to get through a road trip without internet access?

Suddenly, they heard a loud bang and the car jerked violently to the side. Henry slammed on the brakes, maneuvering the car off the road where they could see what had happened.

“Looks like a blowout” Henry said, crouched next to the back passenger side tire. “Rim looks pretty messed up too. And I don’t remember seeing a spare, do you?”

“Oh super, just what this day needed. So what do we do now?”

“I’ll just call the rental company and I’m sure they have someone that can come and get us or something” Henry answered calmly, pulling out his phone and looking up the number. As he talked to a company representative, Eliza wandered around the area looking for signs of life. It was amazing that there were places like this, where there wasn’t anyone as far as the eye could see. She was so used to having people around everywhere, it freaked her out.

“Well, bad news” Henry said, slipping the phone back in his pocket. They can find someone local to come get us, but there are no other company locations nearby, so we have to wait for the car to get fixed up in the next town.”

“Ooh, does that mean we’ll have to miss the stupid convention” Eliza asked hopefully.

“I guess, or at least part of it, depending on how long the car has to be in the shop. The woman on the phone said there’s a motel in town that we can stay at overnight, so at least that’s something working in our favor.”

They sat for the next 20 minutes in silence, both tired and irritable from the day. Finally a tow truck pulled up and a short, balding man in greasy coveralls hopped out, coming over to where they were sitting.

“Howdy folks, heard you’re having a bit of trouble” he drawled, his smile showing off a number of missing teeth. Eliza grimaced, quickly replacing it with what she hoped passed for a smile after she caught Henry’s warning glance.

“Yeah, not sure what happened, but it doesn’t look good for the tire” Henry said, thanking the mechanic for coming. “I heard there’s somewhere in town that we can stay? Would you mind dropping us off there? We really have no idea where we are right now.”

“Of course, young man. From what I hear, there’s a big wedding goin’ on at the church and the motel is pretty full up with out-of-towners, so hopefully there’ll be a room left for you two. It’s not a real big place.”

Eliza spoke up immediately, “Two rooms. We’ll be needing two rooms. Separate. Not together.”

“Ok, yes, I’m sure he gets it” Henry said. “I guess we’ll just have to see what we can get when we get there. Either way, we’re really grateful for your help.”

 

***

 

Henry lugged both their bags towards the office so they could check-in while Eliza just stood where the tow truck had left them, staring at the dilapidated motel in dismay. It certainly wasn’t the Ritz, but he figured it was better than being stuck with nowhere to stay, spending the night in a bus station or somewhere. But he was sure Eliza was going to have a much tougher time accepting the situation with her lifestyle.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” she squeaked, as close to speechless as Henry had ever seen her. If he hadn’t been hot, sweaty, and covered with dust from the unpaved parking lot that billowed around them with every passing breeze, he would have found the situation far more amusing.

“I’m sure it looks better on the inside” he tried to console her. “Let’s just go get our rooms and settle in. A shower and some sleep with make you feel much better about everything.”

They made their way into the office where Henry found a middle aged woman, heavyset with graying hair and a cigarette dangling out of her mouth sitting behind the desk.

“Good afternoon, Connie” he said pleasantly, reading her nametag. Connie just glanced up from the soap opera she was watching on a tiny tv balanced on a pile of books on the corner of her desk.

“Um, we were hoping to get two rooms for the night? We had some car trouble and are going to be-“

“Only one vacancy left” she interrupted in a raspy voice, never taking her eyes from the screen. “I’d take it if I were you, nothin’ else for miles around.”

Henry glanced back to check with Eliza who shook her head frantically. “I guess we’ll take it” he answered, knowing he’d immediately regret the decision. He could practically feel Eliza’s glare burning a hole through the back of his skull. But what else were they supposed to do?

Finally pulling herself away from the television, Connie took down their information and handed over the key to room. “Room 230, take a left, down to the end, then another left” she croaked before shooing them out.

Eliza turned, stomping out of the room, once again leaving Henry with all the luggage. He thought about commenting on how inconsiderate she was being, but he honestly didn’t have the energy. The thought of collapsing on his bed and passing out for a few hours was all that was keeping him going.

A few steps behind Eliza, who had the key, he heard her exclaim in horror as she opened the door. “What is it?” he asked worriedly, thinking of all the awful things she could have stumbled upon.

“One bed!” she wailed. “Can’t anything go my way today?”

Henry’s first reaction was to try and correct her self-centered thinking, but in all truthfulness he was just as disappointed as her. “It’s fine, you can have the bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor or something.”

“Oh no, Henry. You don’t have to do that” she protested, albeit weakly. She walked closer to the bed, lifting the bedspread and inspecting the sheets. Wincing, she looked back at him, “the place probably has bedbugs too. I’ll just sleep in that chair” she said, looking back at a brown overstuffed armchair in the corner, covered with patches and cigarette burn holes. “Though I doubt it’s much better” she muttered.

“Well I still can’t take the bed while you’re sleeping on a chair. I’ll stick with the floor and you can have the bed.”

“No.”

“Don’t be stubborn, Eliza. I’m sure there are no bedbugs, you’ll be uncomfortable in the chair, and if you don’t sleep you’ll feel like crap in the morning” Henry said, trying to reason with her.

“Listen, you don’t tell me what to do. Despite what you clearly think, I have gotten this far in life taking care of myself and I will make my own decisions, thank you” she said angrily, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Fine. What do I care?” Henry answered, just as mad as she was.

“Don’t get mad at me because you’re trying to boss me around” she said pointing at him with a frown.

“Ok” Henry said, wanting to break the tension, “we’re both cranky and we won’t get anywhere like this. Why don’t we try to find some food and then we can come back and crash.”

“Ok, fine” Eliza agreed, “Let me just charge my phone for a minute, I gotta fill my followers in on what a tragedy this whole day has been.”

 

***

 

Two hours later they stumbled in through the door, tipsy after having spent the time at the bar across the road drowning their problems. Eliza flopped down into the armchair, grabbing the remote and turning on the tv. “Ugh, figures!” she said in disgust, channel after channel of static flipping by. “It’s like we’re being Punk’d. God, if Ashton could just pop out from behind the moldy shower curtain and end this misery…”

“Let’s just try and get some sleep” Henry said, ever the reasonable one. Grabbing a pillow off the bed, he threw it down on a bare spot on the floor, preparing his bed for the night. He winced as he heard the remote going flying across the room and crashing into a wall.

“What are you doing?”

“Lying down” Henry answered. “The same thing you should be doing.”

“I am” she answered petulantly, gesturing to the chair she was sprawled in.

“Can we not start this again? Just take the bed; I’ve got the floor, its fine.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No” she said again, determined not to give in.

“Fine. Then no one will sleep in the bed. Happy?” Henry said, grabbing a blanket off the bed and curling up on the hard floor. As much as he wanted to be on the bed right now, he couldn’t justify it while Eliza was on the chair. She’d give in eventually, he figured.

“Good. Goodnight then” Eliza said, clicking off the lamp and snuggling in as best she could.

“Goodnight.”

 

***

 

Opening his eyes, Henry saw it was still dark. Feeling around for his phone, he checked the time and saw that it was only 3 am. Rolling over to try and get more sleep, he groaned as the muscles in his back protested. Fed up, he managed to get to his feet and climbed in the still empty bed, pride be damned. He didn’t want to face the drive tomorrow with his back feeling like an 80 year-old’s.

Only an hour later, Eliza awoke. Her arm was asleep, she had a stiff neck, and as much as she didn’t want to prove Henry right, she knew she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep in the chair. Making her way towards the bed in the pitch black room, she felt around the edge of the bed closest to her. Not feeling anyone there, she figured that Henry was still on the floor and relieved, she climbed in. Though she had scoffed at the quality of the mattress earlier, at the current moment she had never felt anything more comfortable and was soon asleep again.

When sunlight finally peaked through the curtains, rousing Henry from his slumber, his eyes shot open as he took in his situation. Somehow, he realized, they had both made their way into bed during the night and had unconsciously tangled themselves together. Not wanting to move and wake Eliza, his brain worked frantically to figure out how to move from his position without alerting her. It wouldn’t be easy though, as their legs were intertwined and she was holding the arm that he had thrown over her.

Trying to slide his arm away from her slowly, he heard her mumble something quietly and clutch his arm closer to her. Switching to his legs, he moved them slowly, trying to edge away from her. Unfortunately, just as he was almost free, Eliza’s alarm sounded on her phone and her arm shot out, fumbling for it on the bedside table.

Having shut it off, he felt her begin to stretch when she suddenly froze. He cringed, waiting for the moment of realization. Slowly, Eliza turned her head to look back over her shoulder and their eyes met.

“Henry!” she shrieked, pulling away from him.

As soon as she let go, Henry leapt up and backed away from the bed. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were there” he tried to explain.

“Well I didn’t either” she said, “I thought you were still on the floor, so I figured I’d take the bed and –“

“Yeah, me too” Henry said quickly. “Its fine, we don’t have anything to be embarrassed about…”

“Yeah, we were both asleep. It just happened. No biggie” Eliza said, shifting awkwardly. They stood in silence for a moment, avoiding looking at each other.

“Ok, uh –” Henry said, wanting to break the tension. “Why don’t we just get our stuff together and see if the car is ready. Then we can get out of here.”

“Yeah, sounds good” Eliza agreed, already tossing stuff into her bag, not wanting to dwell on what happened.

“Great.”

Together they packed their things and headed off to retrieve the car so they could finish the trip and get back home. However, neither could stop thinking about that morning. Though they would never admit it to each other, and could barely admit it to themselves, they both liked the way it felt to wake up in each other’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt taken from imagineyourotp on tumblr: "Imagine your OTP traveling, but find themselves unable to afford a room with more than one bed. Person A is too shy to sleep in the same bed as Person B, and offers the bed entirely to them. Person B, meanwhile, recognizes that Person A is much more exhausted, and offers the bed entirely to them. Neither ends up going to sleep in the bed, but in the middle of the night, each of them gets uncomfortable and, independently of one another, they climb onto the bed. In the morning, they wake up with their limbs tangled together."


End file.
